The West Virginia Mountaineers snapped their skid after getting a 24-20 victory over the 24th-ranked Kansas State Wildcats.

After a West Virginia 3-and-out to start the game, Kansas State struck swiftly on first down. Skyler Thompson dropped back on first down and found Dalton Schoen on a seam route for a 68-yard touchdown.

Jarret Doege’s first start as a Mountaineer started to look up on the next drives, as he would find George Campbell for touchdowns on consecutive drives to give the Mountaineers a 14-10 lead as the clock wound down in the first quarter.

“I knew once we did that, that this was going to be a battle,” said WVU coach Neal Brown. “We were gonna be in this game for the fourth quarter, and that’s been our goal all year is to get these games in the fourth quarter and let’s see what happens.”

One of those scores would be made possible by an interception from WVU safety Josh Norwood, although the diving play would force Norwood to head to the locker room for the remainder of the game.

Campbell had a career game for West Virginia, adding 92 receiving yards to the touchdowns, and catching all 5 of his targets.

Kansas State would get a field goal in before halftime, but the Mountaineers would still have a 14-13 lead into the break.

Wildcat quarterback Skyler Thompson led his offense out of the locker room and right into the end zone, completing all 9 of his passes in the second half en route to a go-ahead touchdown. That put Kansas State up 20-14.

The Mountaineer offense was seemingly stagnant in the third quarter, but managed to put together a drive into the red zone as the clock ticked. Penalties would push them back, though, and it would fall on Casey Legg to make a career-high 51 yard field goal — which he did, cutting the deficit to 20-17.

“He has really risen to the challenge every time,” Brown said. “And we felt like with the wind…he could make it 50-plus, and he made a 51-yarder, and that ended up being the difference in the game because they would have kicked a field goal at the end of the game.”

They stepped righ back up the next drive and take back the lead on their next drive, when Doege found Bryce Wheaton wide open for a 50-yard touchdown.

It would ultimately come down to defense, though. Thompson and the Wildcats’ final drive would be stopped short by Hakeem Bailey, who would make the interception at the 3 yard line.

Doege’s first start would prove to be a success, completing 20 of his 30 passes for 234 yards and 3 touchdowns. Leddie Brown added 62 yards on the ground.

“This is a huge win,” Brown said. “It felt like a long time coming. We’ve kind of been knocking on the door.”

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